Wednesday, 5 August 2009

Day 11 - Sunday 2 August - Yosemite to San Francisco

This part of the trip finds us in temperatures that are closer to summer temperatures in the UK, so everyone is relaxing a bit more and looking forward to spending some time in San Francisco. Food at the Cedar Lodge in El Portal had been a bit basic, so we loaded our cases into the support vehicle and set off for breakfast at the Happy Burger Diner, a superb 1960's style diner in nearby Mariposa.

After breakfast we ride towards San Francisco, stopping for a brief rest along the way in the small town of Coulterville. It's only claim to fame is the gold-bearing ore that was transported by "Whistling Billy", (an 8 ton, short wheel base, wood burning locomotive), from the Mary Harrison mine south of town to the Potosi Stamp Mill west of town.

Then back on the bikes to ride to our lunch stop at Sausilito just north of San Francisco. We approached via Oakland and got our first sight of San Francisco as we rode over the Oakland Bridge. This took us down to the Ferry Building on Embarcadero and along the seafront to Fisherman's Wharf. Then we headed over the Golden Gate Bridge to the Paradise Bay restaurant in Sausalito for lunch. Coming back to San Francisco we stopped just before the Golden gate Bridge and rode up to the headland to get a better view of the bridge with San Francisco in the background.

Then we crossed the bridge for the second time and dropped down to Fisherman's Wharf and the Best Western Tuscan Inn on Northover Street where we were to spend two nights exploring San Francisco.